At the 1995 Bioengineering Conference held in Beaver Creek,
Colorado, on June 28-July 2, Dr. Grood of University of
Cincinnati reproted that rat MCLs changed their volume during
loading. He showed that the average percent of original volume
at 100, 200, 300, and 400 g was 92, 85, 82, and 89, respectively,
and he ascribed the result to fluid transport occurred in response
to load.

When I heard his presentation, I was surprised because incompress-
ibility assumption for biological soft tissues is a common sense
except for joint cartilage. However, it is true that there is
almost no data which support this assumption except for blood vessel
wall. This study done by Dr. Grood and colleagues is very important
for tissue biomechanics.

An abstract of the above study is included in the Conference Pro-
ceedings published from ASME.